The First Steps
by Kifukiri Vilora
Summary: A story that chronicles the starting points of the AU-loids, as well as their innermost motivations and goals.


**While this isn't the first UTAU fanfic I've written, it's the first one I've put up here.**

**WARNING: Gratuitous use of the Japanese language. I suggest finding a dictionary or someone you know that understands Japanese so that you can figure out half of what Kii says.**

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><p>The city was blanketed in thick snow, and traffic was nowhere to be seen.<p>

Kii shivered, taking giant steps in the crunchy sidewalk. At least, she was sure it was the sidewalk, and not the middle of the road.

The month was July – Kii had just turned 12, and her present was to become an UTAUloid.

The new position gave Kii a shiny, new singing voice, which she hoped would help her collect _some_ amount of Views for whatever her goal was. Of course, she also had to move to a small city away from her family, but that was the least of her worries.

Kii found herself at a bus stop. Nobody was there, except for a young woman holding groceries.

"Hello," the woman said joyfully, "I'm Ura Houjunne. What's your name?"

"E… Eigo…" Kii muttered. "Nane Kii desu. Anata wa Nihongo wo hanasemasu ka?"

"You… speak Japanese…" the English-speaking Ura whispered, before standing up and saying, "excuse me."

Ura stood up, and walked away from her groceries to the corner. She gracefully turned the corner, before…

"Aaah! She doesn't speak English!" Ura freaked, jumping around on the spot and holding her head in her hands.

"I… I English speak," Kii called out. "I English speeeeeaaaak!"

"You _do_?" Ura poked her head out from the corner. "You English speak?" She dashed back to the bus stop, relieved. Ura felt so happy that she thought she would cry. "Thank goodness! I was afraid I would have to look up a dictionary!"

"You no speak Nihongo?" Kii asked.

"No, I only _sing_ in Japanese; I don't know the meanings of the songs unless I look up a translation," Ura replied. "Anyway, you look new; I've never seen you here before."

"Yes yes, I am new here!" Kii replied jovially.

"I'm sorta new too. You have a house yet?"

Kii's joyful expression disappeared. "N-no, no house."

"Would you like to come over to my house for a while? It's almost dinner time."

"Dinner? You have potato there?"

"Yes, I have many potatoes… and other things."

Kii's face beamed a bright smile that replaced her previous look of lost-ness.

"So, where do you come from, I mean, doko kara kitandesu ka?" Ura asked, sitting down at her table, where Kii had already started eating dinner.

"I come from suburb in Tokyo," Kii replied as she piled a lump of mashed potato into her mouth and ate it. "I become UTAU for Mama, because she is very ill."

"Oh, really?" Ura frowned sadly. "What is the rest of your family like?"

"My Papa work as business man, and my nii-chan travels a lot now. Nii-chan take care of me when I was little because Papa work many hours. I used to visit Mama in hospital every day, but now I call her from phone. I want to make many Views so I help pay for Mama's bills. You know, my Mama's from Australia too. She started teach me English when I was five, but she got sick very quickly. So I try to learn English by myself."

"Interesting," Ura commented.

"I also have cousin. He is very funny, he eat much food," Kii added, spooning more food onto her plate.

She felt very relaxed, talking to Ura. Her smile slowly dissipated as she realised a thought.

"Ura-san, I still don't have home of my own yet."

"You know, there's an empty lot at the corner," Ura realised, "actually, there are lots of empty lots in these suburbs. Did you get a little card when you got here?"

Kii searched her pockets, and sure enough there was a small credit card-like object. "This is it?"

"Yes, that's a View card. You can use your Views to buy things, like food and materials."

"It says I only have 35 Views."

"I see… That won't buy much, I don't think. A hammer is 20 Views, two-by-fours and bricks cost 10 Views each, I think," Ura counted on her fingers as she spoke. "And concrete… how much does that cost, again?"

While Ura counted somewhat-important numbers, Kii had stopped eating and left the house, stopping at the empty lot at the corner. The sign in front read "Five hundred Views".

"Big lot," Kii muttered to herself, looking down at the View card. In the time it took for her to move several metres, she had accumulated 24 more Views. And it kept accumulating gradually.

Ura finally caught up to Kii. "There you are," she said, trying to catch her breath from the several-metre run. While Ura could carry several bags of groceries from a store several blocks away from home, she never needed to actually run and – dare I say it – exercise.

"Ura-san, how much is Comments?" Kii asked.

"One hundred views," Ura replied, still catching her breath.

Kii stoically stared at the large, snow-covered patch of dirt and grass and pointed out toward it.

"This will be my home."

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><p><strong>Actually, Ura, the worth of a Comment depends on where it's from. A Youtube Comment is 100 Views, but a Nico Nico Comment is 10 Views, because of rarity and stuff. Back in mid-2008, I had never heard of Nico Nico Douga, so I doubt Kii and Ura did as well.<strong>

**I... I hope someone enjoyed this. **

**The next chapter will chronicle how Kii and Fuyu meet! It will involve celery and a hair dryer!**


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